Rotary engine.



1-. RKJERMAN, JR.

ROTARY ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2, I915.

Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHE ET '1.

' J.F JERMHN Jr.

J. R. JERMAN,'Jiz. ROTARY ENGmE; APPLICATION FILED H531 1915.

1,149,523. Patented "a 10 15.

SMQMM J .JERMRN dz.

BEST AVAILABLE COPY UNITED sTA'rEs ra'rnnrorrion.

Jenn RLIJERMANJJRV "or DILLON, sou'rn- CAROLINA.

noranr ENGINE.

I Application filed February 2, 191 5. SeriallN'o. 5.7.04.

' T 0 all 14710721 1?may concern:

Bait known-that- IQJOHX'R. Jnantax, J1-., a citizen of the United States; residingat Dillon. in the county of Dillon and State of South C arolina, have-invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Envginesyof which-the following is aspelcification. reference being. had to the accompanying drawings. 4

-My invention relates to rotary engines, and particularly that type of rotary engine wherein a rotor is used-against which; the steam or other motive fluid. under-pressure is projected'to cause the rotation of the rotor.

The'primary object ofniy invention is the provision of a very simpleibut' eifecti-ve rotary engine of thistype wherein the rotor is provided with a plurality of peripherally disposed pockets, the steam or other motive fluid being directed tangentially into the rotor-casing and successively against and into the several pockets.

. further. objectofmy invention is to? f 7 provide for the outlet of exhausted motive fluid: and stillanother'object is to provide means for preventing the escape of steam 'orother motive fluid around the rotor, and Jpartrc-ularly in this connection to provide means for preventing the escape of steam at the time when. the rotor 15 being started when the pressure of the steam is particularly great.

of the following description.

M v'1nvent1on is illustrated in the acconipanying draw ngs, wherein. V

Figure 1 1s a vertical sect-ion on the line Other objects 'will appear'in the course- '1l of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 transverse section on the line 22.of Fig. 1 Fig. 3 is a face view of the rotor; Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a portion of the rotor casing and one-of the blades of the rotor showing the packing therein; Fig. 5 is a detail view of a portion of one .ofthe blade packing strips and the adjacent packing ring; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section of 'a portion of the rotor and therotor casing in the same plane as Fig. 2. y I

Referring to these drawings, 2Jdes1gnates a base upon which is mounted-the body 3- of the rotor c sing. 'Th-is body 3 is hollow and cylindrical in formfas clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2,.the margins of this cylindrical bod} portion'being formed with bolt openings as at 4; (seeFig. 2). Adjacent the base of the casing the jcasingis the pocket. as at '19.

1 formed witha tangentially extending out wardly flared outlet passage 5 which may be connected to. any suitable exhaustjpipe 6, and arranged d ametrically opposite the exhaust passage 5 isan inlet passage 7 which likewise extends tangentially to the inner face of the rotor casing and which is adapted to be connected by any suitable union or jointf'toa feed pipe 8 connected to any Specification of Letterslatent. Patented-Aug. 10, 1915.

source of fluid pressure, as a source of steam.

The ends of the body 2 of the rotor casing are closed by means of the end plates 9 each formed at its center with a projecting hub 10 or 'bea ring through which'passes the rotor shaft 11. These endplatesare-lieldto the bod} of the casing'bymeans of bolts or in an) other suitable manner. It is to' be not-ed that; each of the plates .9is formed with a inarginal shoulder 12 or thickened portion which bears against the adjacent end face otthe casing body, the inn'e r face of this shoulder being disposed sli htly outward of the inner tace of the'casing. as shown clearly in FigI-i, to provide for the reception'of a l-mclnng'rmg 13.'

Ke ved or otherwise fastened upon the shaft 11 and disposed within the'rotor casing is the rotor 14. Preferably the. central.

- portion of the rotor iscut away as at'15 so as to reduce'the weight of the rotor. As

illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the rotor is formed with a plurality of blades lti'defiiiing a plurality'ofpockets 17. The rear face of each blade is concavely curved as at 18 across the rotor but only across the medial portion-thereof to thereby provide the side walls 21 of the pockets, the peripheries of theseside walls fitting snugly the internaldiameter of the rotor casing and fitting snugly against theninner. faces otthe plates 9. These side wallsQlof therotor are formed each with a plurality of. circi'lniferentially extending-recesses within which are disposed the packing" rings 22. .The' outer corner of each of the Walls 21 is cut away as .at 23 to accommodate the pack ng-strips 13.

I these packing strips "13 thus overlapping the: edge of the rotor and the edge of the body of the casing- The purpose of this construction is of course to prevent steam from passing around the side walls 21- of the rotor A p and so down into the space 15 and escaping so that the entire pressure of thesteam may be ElltlllZed, but the packing strips 13 are specifically for fthe purpose of preventing ftheesca-pe of steam when the engine is not running and the steam turned on. 'At this time when the rotor is just starting, the

however, against the packing ring 13 will force the packing ringlaterally against the adjacent side wall of the casing and the greater the pressure of the steam the tighter will this'.packmg ring 13 bear againstthe corresponding end. plate so that the steamwill be absolutely prevented from escaping."

It will be noted from Figs. 3 and 6 that the packing strip 20 which is mounted upon'the edge of each blade is longer than the bladeand cxtends into a notch formed in each of the inner packing rings 22' Thus the steam in one pocket cannot pass around the ends of the packing strip 20 and therefore cannot escape from the pocket;

It will be seen from Fig. that the inlet passage 7 flares downward so that the outlet end of this passage has a width equal to the width of the blades and pockets 16 and 17,

while the inlet end has a diameter approximately that of thefeed pipe 8. Thus the "impact of the steam will be distributed across the entire face of each blade and the pressure upon the rotor will be uniform.

It will be noted from Fig. 1 that because of the fact that the passage. 7 extends tangentially into the rotor casing, no blade will be submitted to the action of the steam during a relatively great angular movement, that is during a movement of the blade through ninety degrees. The amount of steam entering the rotor may of coursebe governed in any suitable manner by any blade carrying the rotor around in a cir-' Ordinary throttle valve disposed within the feed pipe 8, and controlled by a governor driven from the motor shaft. The steam enters the rotor casing, impacts against a cular movement, and then escapes out through the passage 5 leaving the pocket ready to receive llve steam.

.1 motor constructed in accordance with my invention is extremely simple and because of its simplicity will attain 'a maximum of power with a minimum amount of steam.

. The packing rings and strips reduce the friction of the rotor upon the rotor casing and prevent. the loss of power through cscaping steam. It will be seen that the steam passing through the -pipe 8 will expand on 1... AVAILABLE COPY BEIST AVAILABLE COPY reaching the passage 7,. thus adding the force with which it will strike th'eseveral blades. y

Attention is to be directed at this point to the fact'that'the'blades extend tangentially by reason of the reiin'trant concavity of the pockets ls and-also to the fact that the edges-of the blades are'less in thickness than the -vertical diameter of the paswall ofthe pocket 18 so as to force the rotor in thedirection of its travel. Thus steam is v entering the two pockets at the same time, and atno period is there a time when the steam is not impacting against at least one of the blades. Furthermore, because of the peculiar form of the pockets, the steam as itis projected from the passage 7 acts tangentially upon the blade which has just moved partially across the passage 7. This would not be the case were the wall of the pocketlS, that is, the rear face of the blade, approximately radial to the center of rotationl It is further pointed out that this tangential inclination given to the blades tends to prevent the steam from attempting to force a passage around the packing strip 20. If the blades had fiat rea'r faces and no pocket 18 were formed therein, the steam would not be pocketed but would tend to passaround the packing strip.

While I have illustrated what I believe to be the .best and most convenient form of my invention I wish it iuiderstood that I do not wish to be limited to the details of construcprinciple thereof.

Having described my invention what I 7 claim is; I

1. A rotary engine of the character described including, a casing having oppositely disposed tangentially extending inlet and exhaust passages, the inlet passage be ing laterally flared, and a rotor mounted within the casing and having a medially disposed series of blades having a width equal to the width of the flared 'inlet pas sage, the motor being provided with side walls fitting the interior diameter of the casing and provided with packing rings.

2. A rotary engine of the character described including a rotor casing having oppositely disposed tangentially extending inlet and exhaust passages, the inlet passage being laterallyflared, and a rotor mounted within the casing and having a series of tangentially curved blades defining pockets, each of said blades carrying upon its 0x tremity a. transversely extending packing strip. the blades having a width equal to the extreme width of the flared portion of the inlet passage the rotorbeing formed with sidewalls fitting the; interior diameter of the rotor'casi'ng and formed with packing ring grooves, and packing rings disposed insaid grooves.

3,-1 na rotary engine of the character described, a rotor-casing having a cylindrical body and end walls, theend walls being outwardly recessed at the junction of the body with the walls, and a bladed rotor therein, the endsof therotoncarrying pack: ingrings contacting with the lI1X18l,f1C ot the casing body, the end faces of the rotor being complementarily recessed with relation to the recesses formed in the end walls of the casing, and packing rings disposed within saidcoinplenientnl recesses and overlapping the joint between the periphery of the rotor and the inner face of the casing body. r

4. In a rotary eng ne, a casing having oppositely disposed tangentially extending'inlet and outlet, passages, theinlet passage of the casing being laterally flared, the outlet BEST AVAILABLE COPY passage of the casing being also laterally flared, detachable end plates closing the ends of the. rotor casingand forming part thereof, asliaft passing. through the end plates, and a rotormounted .upon the shaft,

said rotor being formed with a medially casing and bearing against the end plates,

a plurality of packing rings mounted upon the peripheries of the end portlons ot the rotor, and packing strlps' dlsposed 1n the recesses in the rotor blades, the ends of said strips extending into recesses formed in the inner peripheral packing rings of the rotor. In testimony whereof -I hereunto aflix my signature in the resence of two witnesses.

.- IJ HN R.- JERMAN,'.la \Vitnesses: .4

Fin-manic B. \VnIon r,

D. \V. GALL'. i 

